In the 2010 series, the rules were changed to allow the use of props (other than the traditional hats, scarves and capes). The opportunity was grasped by dancers both good (Matt Baker started his charleston on a ''unicycle'') and not-so-good (Craig suggested that [[Paul Daniels]] making Ola Jordan appear from an "empty" box was the best bit of his routine). But the image that will give us nightmares for the rest of our lives is Ann Widdecombe "flying" (read: being lowered heavily) down to the stage on a harness at the start of her tango.

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In the 2010 series, the rules were changed to allow the use of props (other than the traditional hats, scarves and capes). The opportunity was grasped by dancers both good (Matt Baker started his charleston on a ''unicycle'') and not-so-good (Craig suggested that [[Paul Daniels]] making Ola Jordan appear from an "empty" box was the best bit of his routine). But the image that will give us nightmares for the rest of our lives is Ann Widdecombe "flying" (read: being lowered heavily) down to the stage on a harness at the start of her tango. This was taken to extremes in 2011 with [[Russell Grant]]'s "human cannonball" act to what was ostensibly a jive - which despite being arguably the most memorable moment of that series, didn't stop him from being voted off that week.

<div class="image">[[File:Fly away ann widdecombe.jpg|400px]]''Ann Widdecombe flies like a bird. If the bird in question is a dodo on a string.''</div>

<div class="image">[[File:Fly away ann widdecombe.jpg|400px]]''Ann Widdecombe flies like a bird. If the bird in question is a dodo on a string.''</div>

Broadcast

BBC One, 15 May 2004 to present

(also simulcast on BBC HD and BBC One HD from 2006)

Synopsis

A bunch of non-dancing celebs attempt to learn a series of dances, perform them on a live Saturday night show, get insulted by a panel of judges, and face a public phone vote to decide who gets booted off each week. And all (originally) to raise money for Comic Relief / Children In Need / Telethon '89. Fairly bog-standard reality series mechanics then, but they certainly put on quite a show.

Bruce and Tess make their entrance

Renowned song-and-dance man Bruce Forsyth is our host, though he doesn't get to do much dancing, which seems a bit of a waste. Each celeb has been paired up with a professional dancer, and we get to see clips of them in rehearsal before they take to the floor to perform. After a minute and a half of dancing, their performance is appraised by four judges - the nasty one, the camp one, the old one and the Hot Gossip one (latterly, the seemingly underqualified one) - then they go off into the backroom (the transition originally covered by Brucie telling a joke that would invariably fall flat, but nowadays he just does a simple link) to be grilled by Glamorous Lady Co-Presenter and watch as the judges reveal their marks out of ten. Repeat until all the couples have danced.

The judges' marks count for 50% of the final score, and the public phone vote for (calculators out, chaps) the other 50%. In theory this should reduce the influence of the sympathy vote and help to keep the better dancers in the competition for longer, though it doesn't entirely work that way.

Matt Dawson and professional dancer Lilia Kopylova receive their scores from the judges

From series five onwards, the bottom two after the phone vote go through to a "dance-off" with the judges deciding who should go. Whether effectively eliminating the chance of a shock result is good for the show is a bone of contention - as is the fact that in 2007-8, the results show was recorded and shown on Sunday night, which might not have been quite so controversial were we not living in an internet age in which the result would inevitably be leaked before broadcast. Even if you avoided the spoilers on Sunday, it still wasn't quite the same "event television" it was when the whole nation found out the result live. In 2009 the BBC saw sense (on this point at least) and incorporated the results back into the Saturday night show. Bafflingly, the 2010 series returned to the recorded Sunday night results show, but dropped the dance-off, leaving the results show with somewhat less of a "hook".

2008 saw a couple of changes to the telephone voting: lines now open only for a couple of hours after the live show, rather than staying open all week; and the link to Children In Need has been broken since new BBC guidelines introduced after the phone fakery scandals (as covered in Weaver's Weekspassim) no longer allow phone lines to be used to raise money for charity outside of special events.

Spoony watches footage of himself and Ola Jordan on "It Takes Two"

Even though it borrows a lot from other shows, Strictly Come Dancing does manage to come out feeling like something a little bit different for a Saturday night. It's a very visual spectacle, which instantly makes it stand out from all the purely musical entertainments that both BBC and ITV have thrown at us in recent years. There's a huge sense of fun and exuberance too, which even Bruce's strained jokes cannot quell. Credit must also be given to Laurie Holloway (series 1-3) and Dave Arch (thereafter) and their respective bands, who perform all the music live and, even more than the hosts, set the tone for the show. All in all, a surprising triumph for the BBC.

Key moments

In the 2010 series, the rules were changed to allow the use of props (other than the traditional hats, scarves and capes). The opportunity was grasped by dancers both good (Matt Baker started his charleston on a unicycle) and not-so-good (Craig suggested that Paul Daniels making Ola Jordan appear from an "empty" box was the best bit of his routine). But the image that will give us nightmares for the rest of our lives is Ann Widdecombe "flying" (read: being lowered heavily) down to the stage on a harness at the start of her tango. This was taken to extremes in 2011 with Russell Grant's "human cannonball" act to what was ostensibly a jive - which despite being arguably the most memorable moment of that series, didn't stop him from being voted off that week.

Ann Widdecombe flies like a bird. If the bird in question is a dodo on a string.

Since Alesha Dixon joined the panel, it's become a common ritual that after giving a ten, and just before the camera goes off the panel, the judges will either fan themselves, or start hitting each other with the paddles. Even Craig, who usually eschews such fripperies (and doesn't often give 10s anyway), joined in with hitting Len in the 2010 final when Len was the only judge not to give 10 for Kara Tointon's american smooth.

Catchphrases

One of Bruce's regular catchphrases was amended to "nice to twirl you..." in series 1 and 2. He's now reverted to the usual "nice to see you...".

"Let's meet the stars of our show."

"This... is the moment of truth."

"You're my favourites." - From series 4, often said by Bruce after a couple - any couple - had recieved a mauling from the judges. For the series 6 final, he changed this to the slightly too contrived "I've made up my mind - you're the best."

Bruce: "On behalf of Tess and everyone - and I do mean everyone..."
Bruce & Tess: "Keeeeeep dancin'!"
This is accompanied by an action in which the couples, in ballroom hold, tilt back and forward - they're supposed to go backward on "keeeeep" and forward on "dancin'" but inevitably some of them get it wrong, leading to Bruce following up with mock-exasperated cries of "not like that!".

Inventor

Format by BBC FED Team, based on Come Dancing devised by Eric Morley. From series five, his widow Julia Morley is also credited.

Trivia

The worst ever judges' score was 8 (out of 40), achieved by Quentin Willson and Hazel Newberry for the cha cha cha on their one and only competitive appearance. Len Goodman noted in his autobiography that this was particularly bad luck for Newberry as she is arguably the most distinguished professional dancer ever to take part in the show (which is really saying something when you consider that many of them have been multiple world champions in one discipline or another).

A perfect 40 was first achieved by Jill Halfpenny and Darren Bennett for the jive in the series 2 final. Lisa Snowdon and Brendan Cole have the unique distinction of scoring a perfect 40 twice on the same night, in the 2008 final - though after the viewers' votes were added, they still only came third!

Judge Bruno Tonioli was once a backing dancer and choreographer for Bananarama, as well as Wham!, Elton John (he's in the I'm Still Standing video) and Paul McCartney, among many others. He also appeared on A Song for Europe in 1980 as part of the group Duke and the Aces. They came seventh.

The "Strictly" bit in the title is a reference to the 1992 film Strictly Ballroom.

The Strictly Come Dancing format has been widely exported under the title Dancing With The Stars, and the US and Australian versions have both topped their countries' TV ratings charts. Len Goodman and Bruno Tonioli appeared as judges on the US version, for which Alan Dedicoat also did the voiceover (though since all the announcements are pre-recorded, he never even got to leave London). Local versions of the show appeared in the annual top ten TV ratings in 17 countries in 2006, more than any other format.

The series earned itself a place in the 2010 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records, as the world's most successful reality TV series, having been exported to 38 countries at the time of publication (September 2009). The criteria seem somewhat fuzzy though - after all, Big Brother has been sold to more than 100 countries as a format, and Spy, of all things, has had similar success as a finished show. So a mere 38 countries looks a little bit feeble in comparison.

The series is planned so that three couples will compete in the final. However in 2006 and 2007 the final featured only two couples, due to contestants dropping out: Jimmy Tarbuck for medical reasons and Kelly Brook due to a death in the family. The same would have happened in 2008 after John Sergeant withdrew from the competition, but they got around it by having no elimination in the week before the final and all votes cast that week "roll over" to the final. This was caused by the judges scores being tied for the top two couples on the penultimate week, meaning that there was no way for the viewers to get the couple in last place out of the dance-off. Why they didn't split the tie by giving the 3 points to the couple with the higher individual dance mark, we don't know. That would've been too logical, wouldn't it?

During series 7, Bruce Forsyth came down with the flu and was unable to present for one episode. To cover his absence, Tess Daly was promoted to front-of-house duties, while It Takes Two host Claudia Winkleman covered Daly's normal duties, interviewing the dancers backstage. Brucie's golfing pal Ronnie Corbett was drafted in to do the opening chat with Tess and contributed a couple of gags from his seat in the studio audience. Forsyth also took absence on 10 November 2012, preparing for the following week's Children in Need telethon.

Contrary to popular belief, it only takes one and a half to tango

In addition to the usual standard- and high-definition pictures, the 2010 and 2011 finals were shown in 3D, using the BBC-HD channel.

*Johnny Ball was initially partnered with Aliona Vilani, who had to withdraw due to injury.

Specials

Champion of Champions 2004: Natasha Kaplinsky, Lesley Garrett, Martin Offiah, Jill Halfpenny, Denise Lewis and Aled Jones were reunited with their previous partners for this live special broadcast on 22 December 2004. The usual judges presided.

Strictly Ice Dancing: A one-off ice-dance version broadcast on 26 December 2004. Laurie Holloway's band was not present, and since the show was recorded, the studio audience rather than the public got to vote for 50% of the score. The judges were Craig Revel Horwood, Doreen Hoppe, Chris Howarth and Nicky Slater. The couples were:

David Seaman was brought in as a late replacement for the injured Paul Gascoigne.

Strictly African Dancing:

Yes, they do dress like that at home.

Another one-off, this one for the Africa Lives on the BBC season. Hosted by Martin Offiah and Natasha Kaplinsky, six celebrities "of African or Caribbean origin" each learnt an African dance and then went through the usual performance-and-voting procedure. The celebs were:

Champion of Champions 2005: A recorded show, aired on Christmas Eve 2005, which featured the last four from 2005 series, together with two celebrities from the US version, Dancing With the Stars. The partnerships were:

Rachel Hunter (supermodel) and Darren Cole

Evander Holyfield (boxer) and Karen Hardy

Zoe Ball and Ian Waite

Darren Gough and Lilia Kopylova

Colin Jackson and Erin Boag

James Martin and Camilla Dallerup

Christmas Special 2006: Another recorded show, aired on Christmas Day 2006 (and quite right too), featuring the final four celebs from the 2006 series plus the second and third-placed finalists from the 2005 series. Winners were named "Strictly Christmas Champions".

Mark Ramprakash and Karen Hardy

Matt Dawson and Lilia Kopylova

Emma Bunton and Darren Bennett

Louisa Lytton and Vincent Simone

Colin Jackson and Erin Boag

Zoe Ball and Ian Waite

Christmas Special 2007: Featuring the top four from the 2007 series plus the 2005 and 2006 champions.

Letitia Dean and Darren Bennett

Matt Di Angelo and Flavia Cacace

Alesha Dixon and Matthew Cutler

Darren Gough and Lilia Kopylova

Gethin Jones and Camilla Dallerup

Mark Ramprakash and Karen Hardy

Sport Relief Does Strictly Come Dancing 2008: A one-off in which new celebs were paired up not with professional dancers, but with sports stars who were previous Strictly contestants. Only three judges appeared as Bruno Tonioli was not available.

Gemma Bissix and Darren Gough

David Ginola and Denise Lewis

Jade Johnson and Roger Black

Elaine Paige and Matt Dawson

Kara Tointon and Mark Ramprakash

Children in Need 2008: Another charity edition, this time with Fearne Cotton hosting. Although this one was done live, there was no telephone voting, and the winner was decided by the studio audience.

Pictures

The assembled cast of series one.

Judges with a high opinion... of themselves.(left to right): Bruno Tonioli, Arlene Phillips, Len Goodman, Craig Revel Horwood.This seating arrangement was only used on the first episode, after which Craig and Bruno swapped places.